Car-door fastener.



o. w. CAMPBELL.

CAR DOOR FASTENER- APPLIQATION FILED SEPT. 20' l9l6.

Patented J an. 2, 1917.

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DAVID 'w. CAMPBELL, 0F BROWNWOOD, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF SNODDY, or BROWNWOOD, TEXAS.

T0 JAMES A.

CAR-DOOR FASTENER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented an. 2, 1917.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DAVID W. CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brownwood, in the county of Brown and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Fasteners; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to looks and latches, and more especially to sliding door fasteners; and the object of the same is to produce a fastener for sliding doors such as used on the sides of freight cars, unitary means for unfastening the device and opening the door, and an attachment by means of which a seal can be applied. These objects are carried out as set forth in-the following specification and .shown in the drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of one side of a freight car with its doorclosed and fastened with this improved device. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section showing the fastening dog depressed, the lever turned outward, and the door in the act of being opened. Fig. 3 is a perspective detail of an amplification.

I have shown my invention as applied to an ordinary freight car whose side wall W is usually composed of boards attached to internal uprights U, and is provided with acentral opening 0 across which moves a door D suspended from above on a hanger H and possibly guided at its lower edge as at Gr, and when this door is slid over the opening against a cleat or stop S, means are desirable for holding it fastened in this its closed position and perhaps also for sealing the fastener so that it cannot be opened by unauthorized persons. These objects are all accomplished by my invention, and in addition the lever which I employ for depressing the fastener or dog is used also for'moving the door. I

Coming now to the details of the present invention, the numeral 1 designates a housing or casing mounted on'the inside of the all W and possibly extending from one up- .right U to another, and this housing may well be of metal so that it occupies but little f p I s m median is t c n p r oflthe fastener and to prevent dust from getting into the car and grain or the like from getting out of it. Its walls may be carried through an opening 2 in the car wall W, around which they may be continued into a face plate 3; and the entire housing is 10- cat'ed beyond the rear edge of the door D when the latter is closed; Within this housing is movably mounted a pawl or dog 4 whose shape is best seen in Fig. 2, and it may well be provided with slots 5 loosely engaging pins 6 in the housing. A spring 7 projects the dog normally as far as the slots and pins will permit,'and at this time its inner end 8 stands across the rear edge of the door D when the front edge of the latter rests against the stop S. Therefore the door cannot be opened until the dog is depressed into the housing and out of the plane of the moving door. Then the door can move completely across the outer edge of the dog, but

when the door is again closed the dog springs outward automatically and looks it closed.

Pivoted at .10 to the rear corner of the door is a lever 11 whose outer arm may well be round or enlarged as at 12 for a purpose yet to appear and whose inner arm is slotted as at 13 and provided with a handle 14:. A. button 15 is mounted on the door in such position that the slot may pass over it and then the button can be turned as seen in Fig. 1 to hold the lever against movement. When now it is desired to open a door which is fastened by; the improved device above de scribed, the lever is unbuttoned and the operator grasps the handle 14 and draws it outward. This turns the lever around its pivot 10 so that its outer arm moves across the rear edge of the door and its enlarged end 12 strikes the edge of the dog and depresses the latter against the force of the spring 7. Continued movement of the handle carries the lever ll into a position at right angles to the plane ofjthe door, and

when the outer arm strikes its rear edge the lever is held fromfurther swing and continued movement of the handle slides the door on its hanger H. In order to again close the door, the operator may grasp the handle and conveniently use it for this purpose, finally buttoning it in place as seen in Fig. 1.

For sealing the door when fastened by thisimproved device I make use of what might be called a hasp 20 which is preferably of L-shape with the outer end of its long arm pivoted at 21 and the outer end of its short arm provided with an eye 22, pins 23 and 24 or equivalent devices being placed on the dog to limit the swing of this hasp. The outer arm of the lever is provided with a slot 25 which is so disposed that when the door is fastened the short arm of the hasp may be swung outward through this slot and a seal wire passed. through the eye 22. This obviously prevents the operation of the lever to depress the fastening-dog until the seal wire is broken; and therefore the door can not be opened without the fact being discovered. It is quite within the possibilities of my invention that the door could be positively locked in addition, and as illustrative of one means'I have shown an ordinary hasp engaging a staple on the strip S and a padlock P through the staple. However, this detail has no bearing on the illvention.

An amplification is illustrated in Fig. 3 wherein the seal wire is not passed directly through the eye 22 of the hasp. Here a hook 30 is pivoted at 31 on the lever so as to swing alongside the outer arm thereof and its bill may be dropped through the eye 22 in the hasp. Said bill itself has an eye 82 through which the seal wire may be passed. With this detail employed, it is obvious that the seal wire only prevents the disengagement of the hook from the eye in the hasp, whereas the bill of such hook positively prevents the disengagement of the hasp from the slot in the lever. With the construction shown in Fig. 1 it might in some cases be possible if the slot 25 were large enough to force the tip of the hasp and the seal wire through such slot which of course would not be desirable. With the use of this amplification it is quite possible to omit any positive look as at P.

Thus is produced a car door fastener which acts automatically when the door is moved to its closed position. It will doubtless be so moved by drawing on the handle 1e while the lever stands against the outer face of the door, and when the latter reaches the position shown in Fig. 1 and clears the inner end 8 of the fastener, the pawl or dog a is thrown outward automatically by the spring 7 as far'as the pins and slots will permit. If the hasp be employed, it will doubtless be projected automatically by this time so that its outer end will'pass through the slot 25, and the seal can be applied in either way described above. 7

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a sliding car door, and a support on the car wall therefor; of a housing let into the wall in rear of the door when closed, a dog mounted in said housing and normally projected across the rear edge of the door, and means movably mounted on the door for depressing said dog and then sliding the door.

2. The combination with a wall having a door opening, a sliding door movable across same, a door fastener, and means for normally projecting it across the rear edge of the door when the latter is closed; of a lever pivoted to the door at its rear edge with one arm overlying said fastener, for the purpose set forth.

3. The combination with a wall having a door opening, a sliding door movable across the same, a door fastener, and means for normally projecting it across the rear edge of the door when the latter is closed; of a lever pivoted to the door at its rear edge with one arm overlying said fastener, and the other arm having a slot and a handle, and means on the door engaging said slot when the lever lies parallel with the door.

i. The combination with a freight oar wall having a door opening, a door slidably mounted thereon, a stop at the inner edge of the openmg, a housing 1n the wall near the rear edge of said opening, and a sprlng- V projected dog mounted in said housing and adapted to stand across the rear edge of the door when the latter is closed; of a lever pivoted between its ends to the rear corner of the door and having the extremity of its outer arm enlarged and engaging the outer edge of said dog and its inner arm provided with a slot, and a button on the door adapted to pass through said slot and be turned to hold the lever against the door.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination with a sliding car door, a spring-actuated dog normally projected into the path of said door when closed, and a lever on the door having an arm projecting over the dog for throwing the latter out of the path of the door, said arm being slotted;

. of a hasp pivoted at one end on the dog and with its other end adapted to be swung through said slot, this end having an eye.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination with a car door, a dog normally projected into the path of said door when closed, and a lever on the door having an arm overlying the dog and slotted; of an l.- shaped hasp having one arm pivoted on the dog with the free end of its other arm in position to project through said slot, such end being pierced with an eye, pins on the dog for limiting the swing of the hasp, and a hook pivoted on the lever in position for its bill to drop through said eye, said bill itself being pierced with an eye, forthe purpose set forth.

7. The combination with a freight car wall having a door opening, a door slidably mounted thereon, a stop at the inner edge of the opening, a housing in the wall near the rear edge of said opening, upright pins in movably mounted on the dog with its free end in position to project through the outer slot, and a hook pivoted .on the lever in position for its bill to drop through said 15 has Iii testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

DAVID W. CAMPBELL. Witnesses:

R. H. Fos'rnn, W. J. SooTT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. Q. 

